A Prank To Remember
by water-lily-43175
Summary: Someone unexpected is planning a prank that Hogwarts school will remember ...


He sat himself down in front of the assorted objects, making sure he had everything he needed. After double- and triple-checking everything, he shrank it all and shoved it in his pockets, before standing up and pulling the Invisibility Cloak over himself. Pulling the door open, he checked that the corridor was deserted, before creeping out and quietly shutting the door behind him. He started off down the corridor, on the watch for anyone who might suddenly appear.

Cautiously, he rounded the corner and found the alcove he was searching for. He stood back into it, just as the bell went for the lesson after break. After half a minute or so, there was a sudden rush of people passing through the corridor to their next lesson. He breathed in sharply, hoping no one would find him. After all, Professor McGonagall wouldn't be very pleased at all at what he was about to do.

After a couple of minutes, the corridor cleared. He gingerly stepped out of the alcove, on the watch for anybody else with a free lesson. Reaching a flight of stairs, he just managed to step onto them before they started to swing round. Carefully rushing down them as they were still moving, he made sure the whole of him was remaining covered - after all, the cloak didn't cover him as well as it had done previously. He half-ran down the corridor the staircase had taken him to until he reached a tapestry behind which the passage he had used so much in the past lay. He slipped behind it and dashed down the stairs, making sure he missed the trick step. He didn't want to get stuck in it again.

Reaching the tapestry at the other end, he carefully pushed it aside, stepping out from behind it and into the corridor that the passage had led to. A bit further along the corridor stood two gargoyles, one either side of the staff room door. This was where he was headed. Hoping the gargoyles wouldn't make too much noise, he crept up the corridor - only to notice that they were both asleep. Well, that made his job slightly easier. Glancing around the corridor to see if anyone was there, he slowly turned the door knob and pushed the door open. He winced as it creaked loudly but neither of the gargoyles stirred. He let out a breath he had been holding as he stepped into the room and quietly shut the door behind him.

The staff room was, as he had expected, empty; all the teachers were currently teaching. He dug his hand into his pocket and pulled out his wand - which proceeded to turn into a rubber haddock. He shook his head exasperatedly, a smile growing on his face. Clearly Fred and George had put it in his pocket during the summer when he wasn't looking. Grabbing his real wand, he took one of the tiny boxes from his pocket and tapped it with his wand.

"_Engorgio_!" he said. The box swelled up to the size of a normal Deflagration Deluxe Wild-Fire Whiz-Bangs box. Fred and George had assisted him a lot in this, mainly supplying him with the products he needed to use. He grinned as he remembered their expressions when he told them his plan. To say they were surprised would have been an understatement…

He put the Whiz-Bangs box on the long table in the room; he'd come to sorting it out later. Now for the Zonko's Stink Pellets. Although the business was now extinct, he had managed to find some at the bottom of his trunk. He pulled another box from his pocket and enlarged it, before placing it on the table with the Whiz-Bangs. He then did the same with the box of Dungbombs, also from his trunk, and a box of Decoy Detonators, also from Fred and George. Then, he paused to run over the plan again in his head, pondering what to do next, absent-mindedly running a hand through his unruly hair as he did so.

Next, he proceeded to rig a contraption on the ceiling involving a number of buckets and a mechanism, before filling two of the buckets with undiluted Bubotuber pus and two more with Bulbadox powder, being very wary as he did so: neither of these were nice to the skin. The Bulbadox powder had come from Fred and George, while he had, well, not exactly _stolen _the pus, more borrowed it without permission, from Professor Sprout. The last two buckets he filled with frog spawn. Now there wasn't much left to do.

He pulled out a tiny cage from his pocket, which he enlarged. This was full of Nifflers, all rushing about excitedly in the cage. This had come from Hagrid, although he had had permission from Hagrid to borrow these, unlike the pus. This he also set down on the table, beside the four boxes.

The frozen Nose-Biting Teacups came next. They were, again, placed on the table in their box. Now came the complex bit. He pulled a Portable Swamp from his pocket, pondering over how to do the next - and last - step. He put the Swamp on the floor and waved his wand over it: it immediately stretched out to cover all of the floor in front of the door. He leapt out of the way to avoid it. He then muttered a complex spell; again, Fred and George's assistance had been invaluable in finding a spell that would do what he required. The swamp vanished. He then muttered the same spell on the boxes on the table, along with the Niffler cage, and the mechanism above him.

The prank was complete.

When the teachers opened the door after their lesson to come into the staff room, the Swamp would activate, trapping them in it. The activation of the swamp was to set off the mechanism above, which would make the buckets tip, causing the Bubotuber pus, Bulbadox powder and frog spawn to fall on the unsuspecting teachers' heads. Also, the Whiz-Bangs, Decoy Detonators, Stink Pellets and Dungbombs would be activated. The Niffler cage would open, and the small creatures would cause havoc in their search for shiny items. And the Nose-Biting Teacups would unfreeze and with any luck find the teachers' noses a nice target for them.

He had just set a prank to remember.

However, there was a part of the plan which needed Ginny's assistance. As Flitwick would be able to get rid of the Swamp in a trice, Ginny, who had Flitwick for the next lesson, would distract him after class, with a few well-asked questions involving long, complex answers. Of course, this meant this would exempt him from the prank, but sadly there was no choice in the matter. Besides, Flitwick was so small that if he didn't manage to get rid of the swamp, there was a possibility that he might sink right into it - or so Fred and George had said. At any rate, he wasn't going to take any risks.

He glanced over at his handiwork, checking everything was in order. Feeling satisfied and extremely pleased with himself, he looked down at his watch. With a pang of alarm he realised he only had two minutes to get to the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom. He dashed to the door and pulled it open, stepping out into the corridor and shutting the door behind him. He sprinted along the corridor before slipping behind the tapestry and hurrying through the passageway and up the stairs, missing the trick step again. He pushed past the tapestry at the other end, sprinted back up the last staircase and strolled along the corridor and round the corner to the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom. Making sure no one was around, he pulled the Invisibility Cloak off of him. Pushing the door open, he walked into the classroom.

Harry, who was sitting by the door as arranged, held out a hand to grab the Invisibility Cloak that was thrust in his direction.

Lupin continued to the front of the classroom, turning to face the class.

"Today, we will be covering manticores. This is not a topic to be treated with anything but seriousness, so if anyone messes around in this lesson, I will be keeping him or her behind after the class."

Harry stifled his laughter in the Invisibility Cloak.

_A/N: If you still think that the person behind the prank is Harry, GO BACK AND RE-READ THE STORY!_


End file.
